11/29/12

Tomorrow we are moving house so I am taking a quick break from packing boxes to write a wee post about part 2 of our mini break to Wanaka.

Saturday was a pretty awesome day, we got up early and explored town. I was even talked into climbing a massive hill named Mt Iron. One hour of uphill walking for an amazing view of lakes mountains and towns and it was well worth it. I have to admit to you right now that a year ago I would have said no way I don't want to walk on my holiday. Since becoming more active and shedding a few kilos I feel so much more energized and excited about exercising and realized I have missed out on a lot in life by not pushing myself.

So I give you a sweaty but triumphant picture of me on top of this hill! (picture below) I felt great and it was a stunning view!

We hadn't really planned to do any big walks so I was just wearing a tank top and some 3/4 pants and town shoes but next time we go away I will defiantly be packing more supportive footwear and active clothing. This was the hill I climbed to the right.

How gorgeous is this view serisouly! I love it so much. Wanaka was a beautiful place. I am glad Andrew took me here rather than staying in Queenstown as it is less touristy and felt more special.

This was taken after arriving in Queenstown

The following two pictures are of me on the Crown Range road from Queenstown to Wanaka. We have so many stunning photos it is tough to choose what to share sorry if they feel a little repetitive.

Cardi - The warehouse

Scarf - Asos

Tank top - Ballayntines

3/4 paints - Ballayntines

Shoes - Eco sneakers

The rest of the day was spent sight seeing and then out for a fancy dinner looking out at the mountains. No photos of dinner but here is a quick snap of the outfit I wore.

Jacket - City Chic

Dress - Asos

Shoes - Torrid

Pearls - Gift

It was a fantastic day and I look forward to sharing some more photos with you soon!

11/27/12

This weekend just gone I was lucky enough to be swept away to Wanaka in the South Island of NZ by my boyfriend for our two year anniversary! Four days of bliss surrounded by mountain ranges and gorgeous blue lakes in perfect company what more could a girl ask for! We packed fairly light as we only had carry on baggage and so I packed my favourite dress of the moment which hopefully you are not all sick of seeing just yet. This dress served me well this weekend, it was really warm down south and the cotton fabric kept me nice and cool while feeling very fashionable and comfy.

I am quite excited about these photos you are about to see as they were so much fun to shoot, even though I was a wee bit gross and sweaty after an early morning and two plain rides I just love all the colour and the background of course!

Dress - Thrifted

Belt - Virtue

Lipstick - Autralis (Flamingo)

This was day one after just arriving in Wanaka we had a little drive around and explored the landscape a little. I have been to the South Island a few times but never to Wanaka and I was just so blown away with how beautiful it all was. The weekend was filled with mini road trips and constant eating and lots of laughs and of course many many many pictures of the view and me. I feel like I was on tour with my own photographer so thanks Andrew!

I had such a lovely weekend and now am back in reality and packing up the house for the move on Friday. I hope you all had an amazing weekend and I look forward to showing a few more holiday snaps with you soon.

11/26/12

Dark clothing usually consists of black black and black. Well here is some black with a little red, I give to you my 'dark' outfit inspired by a new T-shirt my boyfriend got me from Threadless. I love this top so much because who doesn't like the Mona Lisa dressed up like a rocker. I am wearing a mens size 2X T-shirt here as the girls sizing is quite small on the website. I was pleasantly surprised with how long the T-shirt is and so far it has not shrunk in the wash. However because it is a male styled shape the sleeves are quite unflattering and help to make me look quite squarish.

Before this post I have just been rolling up the sleeves and tucking them under my bra strap but they always come undone so when looking for a safety pin to hold them in place I came across some ribbon in my sewing box and yey it is red. Two quick little bows tied around arm hoel and neck gather up the sleeves nicely and even help the neckline feel a little more modern.

With this top I am wearing my favourite Torrid 3/4 jeans by Source of wisdom from about 3 years ago. I have tried to make my look feel a little more casual and edgier than my usual outfit posts as the whole dark theme made me think of gothic or punk look. I could easily have worn one of my favourite black dresses or jeans but this seems like a lot more fun and puts a twist on my dark side.

I really wanted a more casual outfit today and I guess if i took off the lipstick hair flower I would have succeeded but I cannot stay away from red accessories.

11/21/12

Yesterday was my 2nd year anniversary with my boyfriend. He had to work but I made him breakfast and coffee in the morning, met him for lunch and a drink after work followed by a quiet night in watching Boardwalk Empire haha. The main event will begin on Friday when we fly off to the south island for a long weekend together.

Anniversaries are of course a great opportunity to wear a saucy outfit but when I remembered that my boyfriend wore a bright orange t-shirt to work that day I thought I had better tone my outfit down a notch or two. We went for a tuesday cocktail at the bar Alice, in Wellington. I have been wanting to try it out for a while now but not at the expense of making my bank account feel sad so when I saw the vouchers on Grabone for $10 cocktail teapots for two I grabbed a couple in anticipation of our anniversary.

'Mock Turtle Soup' cocktail in a teapot

I may need to find the shrinking cake

As you may have gathered by the title of this post, the name of the bar and the fact that the cocktails are served in a teapot, this is indeed an Alice in Wonderland themed cocktail bar. The decor is to be honest a little dated and unimpressive and the bar was completely empty on a tuesday which can be expected. The music was unfitting and we sat in a corner laughing off the awkward ambience and left after only one drink and instead got ice-cream and took a lovely stroll on the waterfront. But thats not important, what is import is what did I wear! Well I wore this..

I want to talk both this outfit because it feels slightly kitschy. Okay a lot kitschy but I love it! It is pretty OTT of me to wear my Alice broach to the Alice bar but then even more so for me to wear a turtle belt and drink mock turtle soup right! Oh well I kind of went with a theme and ran with it. I also got a new lipstick called Flamingo by Australis and I am so in love with it. I want to mention the broach I am wearing I found it at a market stall in Wellingtons Underground Market and isn't it awesome! If your are interested in the broach then check out this blog and get one for yourself or as a gift.

Lots of photos this week the weather is never usually this permitting in Wellington especially on the waterfront but there was hardly a breeze to be felt last night.

I can't wait for the weekend and I am sure I will have another post next week sharing all our adventures!
xo

11/15/12

For a lot of plus sized women the word strapless can be pretty terrifying. It may not be so bad if your chest is on the small side but speaking for myself (and my large chest) strapless bras are awful to wear! I am not even wearing a strapless bra here just my regular black one. I have tucked in the straps so as soon as I put on a card etc I can have full support again. In recent years I have just given up on going strapless and stopped buying strapless dresses/tops. I do however own a few from way back but I never wear them as strapless until today..

I often accessorise strapless dresses with boleros/cardigans or even tshirts. One of the nuisances of a strapless dress is the fit needs to be perfect so it will stay up. This dress I am wearing here is slightly too big on the top for me and to fix this I always wear a large belt with it as it gives it that extra support and keeps the dress where it is meant to be.

I wanted to include this silly snapshot because look at them muscles! If you didn't already know I am on a mission to fight off my own fab flab and my arms have defiantly become firmer as a result of this so far. Just a little bit proud here.

Often I wear a plain black bra with my strapless dress as this helps support the girls and add to my over all comfort. However this doesn't always look the best when seen. If all else fails I usually just sew some quick straps on my dresses and tops. This dress I often wear with a plain black tshirt underneath which give me sleeves and hide my back yey.

It is a bit cold for strapless right now so here is how I styled it for the evening. Also I wore the black accessories to tie into the dresses main colour as to not clash with the print. Wearing a bulky necklace makes me feel a lot more confident in a strapless top as it breaks up all that naked skin! The flower broach helps this aswell.

Dress - City Chic

Belt - Virtue/TS14+

Jacket - City Chic

Necklace - Pagani

Broach - Can't remember

Shoes - Torrid

I do love this dress! I just decided I will take it to Vietnam with me to be copied in some other fabric, which pattern do you think would suit it? More florals?

Do you ever go strapless? Join the blog hop or check out these other fancy ladies!
xo

11/13/12

It feels like ages since I have done a post not related to Aussie Curves so It bought I would quickly turn one out and give you a little update of whats been happening around here.

Im finished uni, exams are done for the year. Ive already picked out next years papers and am so excited for them! Other than that we have finally found a new place to move into! The idea of moving is a dreadful one but I think we have found an even better place than where we are now. It has a larger outside area, even has grass! But what I am most excited about is the kitchen is bigger and the bedrooms are bigger but most importantly the wardrobes are HUGE! Ive already mentally unpacked all my pretties and we are not even moved in yet. Watch this space for wardrobe organizing tips as I am sure I will have some soon. Ive already planned the second bedrooms wardrobes are going to house all my sewing and craft things I am so excited to have places to put things.

Other than that I have been filling in my days with going to the gym and fighting off the urge to eat food all day which actually is harder than it sounds. I have also been planning a trip to Wanaka happening in a couple of weeks. My boyfriend and I have been together for two years so a nice long weekend far from home will sure to be lovely. Picnics walks and fancy dinners out here I come! The other massive thing I have been sorting is our big trip to Vietnam at the end of December. Super excited and we will be spending Christmas in Melbourne so I cannot wait to visit all my old hangouts when I lived there.

Did anyone notice my new banner? If you have an iPad I recommend the app Artrage. Its super easy to use and I am having so much fun tracing photos haha.

Here are some piccys from the last week.

If you enjoy reading my blog please take the time to hit the follow button or like me on Facebook. Have a gorgeous evening!

11/12/12

This weeks challenge for Aussie Curves is Pastels. When I think pastel I usually think art supplies. To be honest I felt a little stumped at what should I wear but with a bit of digging in the wardrobe I found several things that matched the theme. I have put of taking the pictures for a few days now as the weather here has been a bit windy/rainy and just miserable. Tonight the wind and rain let up long enough for me to get a few snaps in, yey! Because it is chilly here I didn't want to be wearing a Summer/Spring outfit so i have paired this outfit with lots of black to tie into the button detail on the front of the dress with splashes of pastels in my accessories.

Dress- City Chic

Cardigan- Cant remember

Necklace - Gifted

Hair clip and earrings - Gifted

Stockings - City Chic

Shoes - Torrid

I do not wear a lot of pink, red is usually my colour of choice. This dress I had bought a couple of years ago from trade me (second hand City Chic) specifically to wear to the Napier Art Deco week as part of a costume but at the time it didn't quite fit and I have never worn it, until today! It feels so good to fit into clothes again. Here comes the boasting!! Since July I have lost nearly 15kgs and the other day I did a measure of all my bits and my bum is a whole 15cm less! I feel extra pretty in this dress because of these achievements!

I also want to share a cheap place to get your hands on some pastels if your interested. I ran into The Warehouse today and pastels were everywhere. Their plus sized range is always affordable and usually I associate it with being a bit nanna or mumsie for me but today I noticed they have lots of nice flattering cut basic tees and singlets in all shades of pastels starting at only $7. They also had a good collection of white capris and cute bolero shrug cardigans in a range of colours.

If your feeling inspired by this weeks challenge then keep it going and check out these other lovely ladies pastel posts!

11/5/12

This weeks challenge is the polka dot! You may have noticed already but I love polka dots I wear them nearly everyday so the only hard decision for this weeks challenge was which outfit should I wear?

I considered leaving this dress for yellow challenge later on but I wanted to show something a little different than just black and white or red and white polka dots.

This was a very experimental dress I made when first learning to sew I have to wear a cardigan with it as I bunged up the back a little, but it still makes a cute outfit even if I do look a little like snow white.

What I wore-

Dress- home made

Cardi- City Chic

Shoes- Diana Ferrari

Pearls- Gifted

Broach- Diva

Sunnies- Can't remember (cheap)

If your interested in seeing other ways in which I style polka dots check out these posts here and here and there :)